Paul Schumaker was a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas. He was first appointed to the University of Kansas in 1972 as an Assistant Professor, becoming Associate Professor in 1978, and Department Chairman in 1981.

Schumaker graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin with a B.A. in the Department of Philosophy and Economics in 1968 and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a M.A. in 1970 and a Ph.D. in 1973, both from the Department of Political Science.

Schumaker has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society and Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Society, recipient of Ford Foundation Fellowships from 1970 to 1971 and 1971 to 1972, a member of the University of Kansas Research Grants, and a Recipient of "Best Paper" Award by the Missouri-Kansas Political Science Association in 1975. Schumaker has served on and been chairman of several departmental committees as well as college and university committees.

Schumaker's list of research and teaching interests include political theory, public policy, and community politics. Schumaker has particularly been interested in democratic processes, especially the modes of participation that give people influence and the conditions under which governments are responsive to citizens.

A second interest concerns the political principles that people have that influence their preferences and activities on specific issues. He is particularly interested in the interrelationships between people's particular interest and their ethical principles and determining the conditions when "ethics matters most."

A third interest for Schumaker concerns ideologies - the diversity of ideas that people have about the political world as it exists and as it should be ideally. Historical development and transformation of ideologies and the places and conditions under which various ideologies become dominant are an interest of Schumaker. He is busy trying to develop models of the newer ideologies that are emerging at the beginning of the 21st century. Most recently he has become interested in comparative electoral systems, particularly the Electoral College and various proposed alternatives to it.

Schumaker has published several articles and books, including Great Ideas/Grand Schemes: Political Ideologies in the 19th and 20th Centuries; Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power; Choosing a President: The Electoral College and Beyond; and 'Group Representation in Local Bureaucracies' printed in Administration and Society.